Everyone has probably heard about this incident in central Arkansas. As you read on the Gateway Pundit link, whoever took down the poles actually went to a lot of trouble. They stole a cherry-picker type tractor to use in pulling down the poles they cut.
I'm not going to go into detail, but there are easier ways, and more devastating ways to shut down the grid. I have less apprehension about EMPs than about a coordinated, low-tech attack that could take out big blocks of the grid for days.
These jokers in Arkansas might be terrorists, but they are more likely mere pranksters or environmental mental cases. I would look for young, white males of moderate intelligence with some college credits and a hankering to impress the girls.
Back when I was in college, my home area endured a massive winter storm that took out power lines in some very remote rural areas. My parents were without power for an extended period of time -- over a week, if I remember right. Of course, they had grown up with no power and heated with wood. Not being able to get water to make coffee was their main complaint. That was probably the last time the old deep freeze was completely emptied before my father passed away.
(As an aside, that big chest-type freezer is close to fifty years old, might be a little more. It still works. It is not frost-free, but it is a tank. I think it is a GE, made by Americans, probably.)
Anyway, the main reason I have a generator is so I won't be caught without power for my well. I like water. I also have my refrigerator and freezer on it. I can run the blower for my gas furnace and even my heat pump off of it, but, of course, the less pull on it, the less fuel is consumed. Even my wireless modem will still be up. So far the longest outage has been three or four hours. I also had a whole-house surge protector installed when we did the generator.
A generator won't keep things going forever, but it does provide some breathing room to get everything squared away.
I hadn't heard about that. So we have these attacks in Arkansas and then that attack in California a few months ago. Ok, just looking for trends.
ReplyDeleteI may have mentioned this before but it is something I know a little about. We have been staying hydrated for the last 15 years with a solar panel driving a DC pump in our well which pumps into a 500 gallon tank. The tank is uphill from the house and the water is gravity fed to the house. We also have a hand pump at the well (but I need to pull the pump and change the leather valves to get that to work again). So, we have a fairly robust system if you don't mind algae and needing to mind the level in the tank when things get cloudy.
The new chest freezers are cheap and use little power. We can run two of them off our small solar system. That is a good pairing of technology.
That's excellent. I don't have anything much above me close by. I certainly wouldn't have much pressure, but that is a solid setup. If you can get water you are good. I'm talking with the boy who put in my generator -- a Mennonite, no less -- about backups and alternatives. He has some relatives that do solar and wind.
ReplyDeleteOoo, now you done it. You got me designing systems in my head. A "cheap" water backup system would be you could share the existing well pump with a DC pump. Maybe hang it a few feet above your AC pump, add 1 panel and pump into a tank near the well head, set it on some blocks to get the valve a comfortable height off the ground so you could tap it for emergency water (ATV, buckets, trailer). When not doing that, you could water your garden. You would need to modify the well cap for an outlet for the well casing (ours is PVC) . Ok, I'll shaddup now.
ReplyDeleteYou ought to make a post out of all that.
ReplyDeleteI could put a tank on the barn or in the barn loft or something like that. I like that.